Barack Obama UK visit: a triumph for barbecue diplomacy as Cameron and Obama play their part with relish

Winston Churchill forged his bond with Franklin D Roosevelt in the furnace of
the Second World War. For Tony Blair and George W Bush, it was the flames of
Iraq. At an early lunch in the Downing Street garden yesterday, David
Cameron and Barack Obama lauded their own “essential relationship” by
cooking sausages.

For the Prime Minister and the visiting US president, the day started with meetings to discuss government business, supposedly the important bit of the programme, but in reality a distant second behind the public set pieces.

Before what the ugly lexicon of modern diplomacy calls “a bilateral” and what the rest of us would call “a meeting,” the two posed a bit awkwardly on too-low ornamental chairs in Downing Street’s White Drawing Room.

The room is, of course, painted pale yellow, and is probably more notable for the Turner above the fireplace and a bronze of Florence Nightingale on the sideboard.

The sharp-eyed can make out butterflies and beetles in the moulded ceiling too.

Edward Heath used to keep his piano there; the contrast between the old sailor, never comfortable in his skin, and these two overwhelmingly confident 40-somethings was jarring.

If either Mr Cameron or Mr Obama has ever experienced a flicker of self-doubt, they show no sign of it before the cameras.

Next, it was the Cabinet room, each leading a team of underlings – including a grateful-looking Nick Clegg – to talk Libya, Afghanistan and terrorism.

For men who like to think they bestride the narrow world, there was never any doubt about which role to take at the barbecue that followed.

Before noon, Mr Cameron and Mr Obama assumed the traditional alpha-male position for alfresco dining, declaring themselves firmly in charge of the meat.

Presumably, when you have sent troops to war and ordered the killing of Osama bin Laden, dispatching a chop and a few burgers is nothing.

If men do meat, women do salad, Samantha Cameron and Michelle Obama dutifully overseeing both a tomato, mozzarella and basil mixture and a traditional Caesar, all the while directing the odd indulgent glance at their other halves.

Most of us would think twice about wearing white to eat outdoors, not least on a day when a healthy breeze threatened to send the relish flying and pudding consisted of bright red summer berries with cream.

Mrs Cameron, at least as self-assured as her husband, knows no such fear. Hence her white A-line tank dress and bright green belt.

If the serving staff at Downing Street’s very peculiar garden party could claim to be an impressive bunch, the guests could claim respect of an altogether different order: British and American service personnel and their families, around 150 in all and among them men wounded in Afghanistan.

In white shirt sleeves and apron-free (real leaders fear no grease spots), Mr Cameron and Mr Obama doled out lunch to those who stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.

In an age of spin and political insincerity, the gesture was genuinely well-received.

Capt Michael Healy, an American based at RAF High Wycombe, couldn’t have been happier. “I got a sausages from my president, a burger from your prime minister and salad from both ladies,” he grinned.

“You couldn’t get a better lunch than that.”

Capt Luke Sinnott, a Royal Engineer wounded in Afghanistan in November, described meeting President Obama as “a real honour, a once in a lifetime opportunity”.

The barbecue was still in full swing when the leaders departed for their press conference, an open-air love-in in the garden of Lancaster House.

The two men may have been on Mr Cameron’s turf, but they left No 10 in Mr Obama’s car, the heavily-armoured and even more heavily-hyped “Beast”.

Having beached like a whale in Dublin on Monday, the monstrous limo managed to clear the Downing Street ramp and begin an almost menacingly slow crawl up Whitehall and through Trafalgar Square to the waiting media.

On arrival, Mr Obama was reminded that it’s not just our common language that divides us.

As head of state in a nation that still venerates its institutions, even the august body that is the White House press corps generally stands for him when he arrives.

The proud rabble that is the British press is no respecter of rank: to Mr Obama’s mild dismay, we stand for no one.

He managed half a joke about that and his Icarus-like poll ratings, noting to Mr Cameron that when he first took office “they all stood for me”.

They should have left it there. Mr Obama and Mr Cameron may look good on TV and they can both talk fluently, but neither man is a natural comic.

For reasons passing understanding, Mr Cameron chose to deface his scripted opening remarks about “the shared history of our countries” with a reference back to the barbecue.

“It was probably the first time in history that I can say a British prime minister has given an American president a bit of a grilling,” he said. No one laughed.

The president’s own gag, a line about Mr Cameron having “arranged for typical London weather these past two days” was merely lame.

Still, neither man reached the top because they were funny. They got there by being convincing and plausible, and the exchanges that followed proved the point emphatically.

Even when they had nothing to say, they said it well. And most of all, they said it warmly.

Try as he might to sound casual about referring to the 44th President of the United States as “Barack”, Mr Cameron couldn’t quite conceal his satisfaction at being seen to treat his visitor as an equal. Every presidential reference to “David” caused similar delight.

For all the best efforts of the Fourth Estate, neither man ever looked much troubled by the questions. Perhaps the greatest threat to Mr Cameron’s composure was the wind, threatening at times to derange his elaborately tamped-down hair. The smiles never wavered.

So, David and Barack: Best Friends Forever? It would be easy to write off the joint appearances as warm words and soft soap, but beneath the eloquence and polish lay a hard-edged realism about what really matters in international affairs.

“The United States and the United Kingdom have a unique relationship. And that is going to be consistent regardless of who the president and the prime minister is,” said the president.

In other words, if David fell under a bus tomorrow, Barack would feel much the same about Britain.

The same presumably goes for the Prime Minister, though he did not say as much, happy just to enjoy a moment in the sun before the president moved coolly on to Westminster Hall and more adulation.

The food served at last night’s banquet was, unsurprisingly, a little more sophisticated. On the menu was a lobster ravioli starter, a main course of griddled fillet of aged highland beef, with crushed Jersey royal potatoes, asparagus and minted broad beans. The dessert was pecan pie and brandy ice cream.

Among the guests were Viscount Astor, the actors Tom Hanks and Colin Firth and David Beckham.